The Anniversary
by Thunder's Blade
Summary: This is when they return to Isle Esme.
1. Chapter 1

"Bella?" His voice was soft as he trailed his fingertips lightly over my collarbone.

"Mmmmm?" I gave him the best reply I could manage.

"What would you say if…if I told you that we were going to go on a short vacation soon, just the two of us?" His eyes were closed and his long eyelashes, which traced across my skin, made it feel like my skin was on fire. Even though it had been a while since I'd joined him and his family physically, when he did that, he still had that same effect on me that made me feel like I was human all over again.

"That would be great," I replied.

I thought about Renesmee – Nessie – sound asleep in the room next to ours. Edward and I were lying across the larger-than-ordinary bed in the middle of our bedroom in the little cottage. We were still fully clothed, at least for the moment, but that might change in the next few minutes….

"Good." His lips touched mine ever so slightly and he drew away, his eyes still closed.

"Uh…why are we leaving, and where are we going?" I had to ask.

His eyes opened. They were a lovely shade of dark gold, and I could never get used to their beauty, their _heat_ – even though I knew that my eyes were the same color. All of the Cullens' eyes were usually like that.

"Bella," he whispered. "Do you know what the date is?"

Right. He expected me to remember the date when I could barely remember my own name?

"No," I answered. My breathing edged toward hyperventilation, even though I didn't have to breathe, technically.

"It is the eleventh of August," he murmured. "You know what's coming up, right?"

"No."

He sighed an exaggerated sigh. "When did we get married?" His fingers brushed against the ring on my finger.

I looked at it, trying to gather my thoughts. "August thirteenth."

"Our anniversary is in two days," he whispered intently, pressing his lips to mine.

"Oh…."

He looked up, concern in his eyes. "Is that okay, Bella? You don't have any…plans, do you? Did Alice miss something?"

"No, no, I'm fine with that…where will we be going?"

My angel relaxed, holding me against him again. "The same place we went after our wedding."

At that, my dead heart sent a thrill of joy through me. Being completely alone with Edward was a rare luxury. Of course, we had the cottage, but any of the others could make it here from the house in less than half a minute. In Isle Esme, however, we would be countries away from them…I sighed in happiness.

"Alice packed your bag already."

I jumped up from his grip. It still amazed me that I could now break his iron hold on me whenever I wanted, that he felt so _human_, at least to me. I couldn't get used to it.

"I better go check to make sure she's got everything," I muttered. "Wait…right now it's the eleventh. In about half an hour it'll be the twelfth. When are we leaving for Rio?"

He smiled his crooked smile and pulled me back down with him. "The twelfth. And don't worry, Alice decided to see what you would do if she didn't pack any of your clothes for you. She saw what you'd want. Don't worry, she packed it all."

I glanced skeptically toward the general direction of the main house. "Jeans?" I asked, doubtfully. "T-shirts? Shorts?"

"Yep. She packed it all, sweetheart. Don't worry about it."

I groaned. "I _know_ she'd never stop there, Edward. What else did she pack?"

He grinned. "She packed a few dresses, of course – don't worry," he added, seeing the expression on my face, "I told her to make them all cotton. No silk or satin."

"Anything else?" I demanded.

He pulled me on top of him. "Of course, you know what I told her to pack instead of your pajamas," he teased, stroking my hair.

I groaned quietly. He seemed to be strangely attracted to my wearing lingerie – especially black ones, since they stood out against my white skin. "Well, that's just great."

"What?" He feigned offense. "What's so bad about wearing that, when you're going to sleep with me anyways?" He ran his hands across my body. I leaned toward his lips, and his arms encircled me and held me tight against him.

I raised an eyebrow when his words registered in my head. "Remember what you said before? That technically, you can't ever _sleep_ with me?"

Laughter rose from his lips. "Of course, Bella. You are _so_ absurd," he murmured.

His hands held the fabric of my shirt, and he tugged it off gently….

That was the end of the conversation.


	2. Plane Ride

_EPOV_

Bella leaned against my shoulder, and her eyes stared dreamily out the small airplane window as we left the clouds and entered sunshine. I didn't have to be able to read her mind to know what the sunshine made her think about: Phoenix, Arizona – where she'd grown up, and Jacksonville, Florida – where her mother, Renée, and her husband, Phil, were.

Mind-reading. I was glad that we'd left the crowded airport behind – the thoughts that some males were thinking of when they neared Bella…well, for that matter, females, when they were close to me, too…they were very disturbing.

I reached over to touch her face. It was so much easier, I reflected, when she was changed. I didn't have to watch my actions every time I touched her face like that, every time I kissed her. I didn't have to worry about purely unintentional acts of affection that could kill her immediately.

She seemed to snap out of her reverie, and she turned to face me with a small smile on her face. I lifted her face to mine with one finger. She seemed to be concentrating very hard, and I knew what was coming.

_I love you, Edward._

I had gotten one of the rare glimpses of her thoughts when she had pushed away her mental shield. She hid her thoughts from me most of the time unless she wanted to say something to me – silently. I pushed my lips against hers, so that she was leaning back against the side of the airplane and I was pushing up against her. I leaned back, so as not to destroy the framework of the plane, and returned to my seat. Luckily, the plane wasn't too full, so no one witnessed our public display of affection.

"I know," I whispered back, too softly for human ears to hear.

She wrapped her arms around my neck. I grinned and pulled her lips to mine again. I parted my lips and ran my tongue around her lips. She sighed in pleasure and pulled away reluctantly when we both heard a stewardess coming down the aisle.

On the airplane it was easier to not eat and not attract attention. The stewardesses' thoughts, however, made me slightly uncomfortable. Every time we went out in public, I would have to hold Bella tighter, to let everyone know that she was mine, and I was hers.

"It's going to be a long night," she whispered under her breath. We were good at these quiet conversations; our lips would barely seem to move, and the words that came out were too soft for anyone to hear but us.

I smiled, caressing her cheek with one hand. "Oh, well," I said. "We can always just make out after everyone's asleep."

She chuckled and leaned back against her seat.

It was a long plane ride, but it was comfortable, and all the more bearable with my angel with me. The next day would be our anniversary; I tried to think of something special for that. For the time being, my mind was preoccupied with when we'd finally be at Isle Esme again, and how different it would be from the last time we were there.

For most of the ride, we were quiet, except for a few "silent" conversations. We would usually stay still, apart from the few times our need became unbearable and we would lock our mouths together. Otherwise, we just remained in our permanent, unbroken embrace.

At night, we had some more freedom with each other. It seemed ridiculous to go about our usual night routine on the plane, where a human could have a bad dream, wake up, and see us…so we settled for heavy kissing.

Kissing Bella was an experience I relished. To feel her lips moving steadily in rhythm with mine, to feel her fingers lock into my hair, to feel my own hands moving up to knot themselves in _her_ hair, the lightheadedness….

We were perhaps as close to our…routine as we could have been. For the most part, our hands stayed like that; a few times, however, our craving for each other would take over, and at times like those, all we could do was keep quiet, and hope that the humans didn't wake up.

At daybreak, we reluctantly released each other once more and took up our sleeping pretense again. We didn't "wake" until nine a.m. The plane was due to land in Rio de Janeiro at any moment; the ride was smoother and quicker than I'd expected.

When the flight was over and the plane had stopped, Bella reached for my hand and our fingers twined together as the passengers walked out. I carried both our bags with no effort at all, and we exited the plane.

We'd already bought a boat down here; our family owned it, but because we very rarely came down here, it was usually used as a rental boat for other humans. I took Bella's hand tightly and pulled her down into the boat, and we left the waking city of Rio behind us.


	3. Isle Esme

_BPOV_

Edward grasped my hand as we got off the small boat.

I reached back for the bags, but he already had them. I guess I was daydreaming a bit. More like worrying, I realized.

I'd said my goodbyes to the rest of my adopted family, to my little darling Nessie, and to Charlie. Nessie's goodbye, as with most of her other statements, was in her head. _Bye, Mommy,_ she had thought. _Come back soon. I'll miss you…_

My little girl. I had bent down to kiss her cheek. "Yes, Nessie, Mommy will miss you too. But we'll be back in a few days, a week at most."

"Okay." That was the only word she had spoken aloud all day, as far as I knew.

Edward led me into the familiar house that sat on Esme's island. My step had a little bit of excitement in it when I saw the familiar rooms.

The white room was the same as always: the white mosquito net, the giant, white bed – all of those were memories from my weak human days. I wrapped my arms around Edward's neck and pulled myself to him. He lifted my mouth and kissed me with a fierce passion that could have incinerated the whole island and reduced it to ashes, right then and there.

He released me with a chuckle when I started gasping for air that I didn't need. "Shall we swim now, or at night?" he asked, brushing his fingers across my face. His smoldering eyes bored into mine, and I found it very distracting.

"Tonight," I murmured, grasping his hand and holding it up to my cheek.

He grabbed me and pulled me on the bed with him.

And we began to make up for missing last night.


	4. Midnight Swim

_EPOV_

"Bella, I'll be waiting for you in the water…don't take too long," I called out softly to her. The moon was shining, and the weather was perfect. Perfect for a night out with my angel. I sighed contentedly. This trip was much smoother than the first.

"Déjà vu," she answered simply. I stifled a laugh at that absurdly correct statement.

I stripped the last of my clothes off and dumped them on the warm sand. I waded out into the warm water, but unlike the last time, now I waited facing the house, eager to have her in my arms again.

At last she appeared. She ran over to me with her newly acquired speed, and I had her safe with me, in my arms, once more. I held her against me, but unlike last time, we were now the same. I didn't have to be careful with her anymore, now that she was just like me. She no longer had to go without color during darkness; she could see just as well as we could. The sound of her heartbeats I missed, but that was a minor detail. What was important was that she was with me, she was _safe_, and I had her. Forever.

That train of thought brought along an old, familiar flash of guilt. Even though it had been nearly a year, I still felt uncomfortable about it.

"Bella," I began. "It's been so long since it's just been us – you and me. I want you to enjoy this as much as possible."

She stopped me. "But what about _you_?" she asked. "I want you to enjoy this, too."

I sighed; she would never listen to the fact that as long as she was happy, then I was happy. If she was in pain, so was I. There was no doubting that fact.

"Tell me," I pleaded, tilting her head up to look at mine. My arm drew her closer to me. "Are you perfectly happy this way? As an immortal?"

"Of course," was her immediate answer. "Why would I regret that? I have you with me forever, I have Renesmee, I have my new family…I don't miss anything."

I exhaled. "But you've given up everything for me. Your mortality, your humanity, your human relations and friends – I feel so horrible, so unforgivable, sometimes, for doing this – "

She held a finger up to my lips, silencing me. "Listen," she commanded. "I. Am. Perfectly. Happy. I don't regret _anything_. At all. Please don't feel guilty for me, because there's nothing to feel bad about."

I shake my head slowly. "That may be what you feel, but…I need to make this up to you."

She laid her head on my chest. "I have you. That's all I want – all I've ever wanted."

"Well, if that's what you want," I conceded. "Then you can have any part of me you wish to have."

She pulled my head down to reach my lips. "I want this part. I want _every_ part," she whispered. A smile played on my lips as I recalled her same words to me on our camping trip, before the fight between Victoria and I, Riley and Seth.

"Every part," I echoed.

I drew her against my chest, and we floated deeper into the water, together.


	5. Call From Home

_BPOV_

The sunlight pouring in from the windows of the familiar white room sent beams of sparkles across our skins.

I looked at my hand, unable to stop marveling at the beautiful crystallized structure beneath the surface. I unthinkingly entwined it with Edward's, and our hands shimmered together.

I turned my gaze to his face. He looked perfectly at ease, the pale shadows under his eyes barely visible. Regardless, I stroked across it gently with my thumb.

"Bella, love," he whispered. "Don't worry. Now that you're changed, there's no reason for me to be thirsty _at all_. I'm perfectly fine."

"I'm not _worried_. It's just that…you're beautiful."

"No one can compete with you, my dear."

I snorted. "I only wish."

He pulled me tighter to him with his free arm and trailed his fingers down my bare back. Taking the hand that was holding mine, he cupped it to his cheek, warm to me under my skin. That took some getting used to, too – that he actually felt warm and soft to me.

"Ahh…."

And he was kissing me again.

I wrapped my arms around him, not caring that it was noon and we should be out and about instead of hugging and kissing in the bed, undressed. Our mouths stayed together for a long time before we finally broke away.

He sighed and buried his face in my hair.

I stretched. "Ugh…I suppose it's time to get dressed and be civilized again."

"Fine," he muttered. But his motions were gentle as he led me off the bed and to our clothes.

We got dressed silently and were heading out of the room when Edward's phone went off in his pocket. It was at his ear instantly, and I could tell who the caller was by the voice.

"Yes, Alice, we're here," answered Edward patiently, to a previous question I had not caught.

_"Good. Nessie misses you a lot."_

My little girl…of course it was natural for a six-year-old to miss her vampire parents when they jetted off to an island off the Brazilian coast for their first anniversary. Sure, why not?

"Where is everyone?" Edward asked.

_"Esme is buying gardening supplies, Carlisle's at a patient's home – the patient has a wheelchair, but his family is away so Carlisle's taking care of him at his house right now, Nessie is with Jacob, hunting, Rosalie's studying her reflection right here" _– I heard a muted growl in the background – _"Emmett's waiting to get on to you and Bella, and Jasper's right next to me."_

"So, has anything drastic, important, or big happened in the last day or two?" asked Edward, his hand finding mine as we sat down on the sofa in front of the TV in the den.

_"No."_

"That's good."

_"I'm putting Emmett on – he's dancing with impatience."_

I heard Edward sigh remotely, and I reached up to kiss him. His lovely eyes melted, and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

_"Edward!" _Emmett's voice _was_ impatient.

"Hey, bro, how's life?"

_"Quiet since you two left. Hey, put Bella on, I need to torture her some more."_

I groaned quietly and reached for the phone. He handed it to me, and he wrapped both arms around my waist and pressed his lips to my hair.

"Hi, Bella – is Esme's house still standing? How many windows have you two smashed?"

"Yes, and none."

"Is the bed damaged in any way?"

"One of the pillows has a one-inch rip, and that's all."

I could picture him shaking his head in amazement. "How do you _do _that? I thought for sure that the house would be ruins by now."

If I could've blushed deep red, I would have.

I glanced up at Edward, and he smiled back, tracing his fingertip along my nose. He bent his face to the back of my neck, and planted a row of butterfly kisses there. I shivered, and he pressed his lips softly to my skin.

"Oh…speaking of which, put Edward back on, Bella."

Emmett's interruption was slightly irritating to me; I placed the phone in Edward's hand. He lifted his face from my skin and held the phone to his ear.

"Okay, spit it out, Emmett."

_"Well, um, Rosalie and I…broke our bed frame, and we were just wondering…can we borrow yours? Please, Edward? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"_

"You know I can't eat them."

_"Fine. Pretty please with a cup of mountain lion blood on top?"_

Edward glanced at me through his long lashes. I nodded. That was fine – we had our cottage anyways.

"Okay, Emmett – but I _swear_, you destroy it, and you're going to _pay_."

_"Yes! Thank you! I owe you for eternity – no, wait, I didn't say that, I didn't say that, I didn't say that…."_

"Please, Emmett – give the phone back to Alice if you don't have anything else to say."

_"Emmett's a bit psycho today."_ Alice's tone held a hint of amusement in it.

"I'll say," Edward muttered.

"_Jasper's waiting for me to get off…when are you guys coming back?"_

"A few days, maybe. I'll call when we are."

_"Okay, Edward, bye. Bye, Bella!" _She knew I could hear her.

I pressed my lips near Edward's, to reply back in the cell phone. "Bye!" I said.

Edward flipped the phone shut.

It was back in his pocket immediately.

He bent down to kiss me again. I could taste his passionate edge, and my lips responded with emotions just as strong. We sat there, kissing, on the sofa, for maybe ten minutes.

"I have not had enough yet," he whispered, his warm lips still on mine.

My breath caught as his fingers tied themselves in my hair. "Neither have I," I breathed.

I could feel the tip of my tongue touch his, and I sighed in pleasure. The warm, sweet scent coming off him was still as irresistible as always. I pushed myself against him and he adjusted to be able to hold me tighter.

"I have an idea," he whispered, pulling his lips an inch away. "Why don't we just enjoy the sunlight for once? We can go to the top of that cliff nearby, and we can be outside…together…."

"Yes," I agreed.

He swept me into his arms and ran out of the house before setting me down.

I kicked the door shut behind us, and then we sped through the forest to the cliff he described. The joy of running like that was inexplicable, yet amazing. The feel of the wind through my hair, the happiness of knowing that I was holding Edward's hand at the same time….

We were soon to the edge of the cliff, and our bodies threw spectrums of light everywhere. We lay down, and warmed to the sun's rays.


	6. In The Sunlight

_EPOV_

I could not get over how beautiful she looked in the natural light of the skin was the same as mine, but somehow, I knew that she looked infinitely more lovely than I ever could. I smiled to myself as I thought of how Bella would consider me absurd, and how absurd _she_ was, in the way that she regarded me. As if I were a god or something.

We were lying on the soft warm grass, and Bella's hair stirred in the gentle breeze. She closed her eyes, and the shimmering, pale lavender of her eyelids was just so…beautiful.

I leaned over her, stroking her eyelids, and then kissed them. She sighed happily under my touch, and she pulled me down to kiss me. I closed my eyes, too, and all I was aware of was the sound of the waves breaking and crashing onto shore nearly a hundred feet below us, the cry of the seagulls, and the way my lips moved with Bella's, the way our breathing came faster.

Breaking away with a soft moan, I rolled back over and held her hand to my cheek. I kissed it softly, and then let go of it.

I examined my wife's flawless face. Unlike the rest of us, she barely had any shadows under her eyes at all – no doubt an effect of the strong self-control she'd possessed since vampire birth. She barely ever had to feed, and I was sure that she would remain stronger than the rest of us, since we derived our strength mostly from feeding, and she could last much longer than we could.

"Do you still think that my choice to become a vampire was the 'twilight' of my life?" she murmured, rolling over to look at me.

My fingers ran through her hair. "Isabella Marie Swan Cullen," I whispered in her ear, "the choice you made, to give up humanity for me, stopped time in its tracks – no, you turned back the clock of my life. I now feel like I'm waking up in the early morning."

"That's not a correct comparison," she disagreed, rolling onto me. I held her tightly as she continued. "No matter how early it is, the day is always going to end – but my true life, my life with _you_, shall never, ever end."

"You're right," I agreed, pushing her over and leaning over her.

"You are my life."

"As you are mine."

"There's another thing," I said awkwardly, not sure how to bring this up. "Charlie…you know that he's going to age, right? And that he'll…die…?"

A flash of pain appeared in her eyes. "Yes," she whispered.

I regretted ever bringing this up, but I couldn't just say "never mind" right now. "Well, I'm sure you feel like your life is perfect right now, but in thirty years…Charlie's going to grow old, while you won't. And I'm sure that you'll want to visit him in old age."

"Charlie knows that I'm different now, that what you tell him is just a pretense. I don't think he'll pry too deeply. You, of all people, should know that," she added, her voice light again, teasing me.

I kissed her. "True," I murmured.

She moved her lips to my ear. "You see, nothing to worry about," she said softly.

The sun's rays changed a little; we no longer threw rainbows into the light, but the colors were limited to reds, oranges, and yellows. The sun was almost touching the ocean, from our view…I sat up, and Bella leaned against me. We sat there, almost like any human couple, watching the flaming sphere dip lower and lower into the waters.


	7. College

_BPOV_

The lights were turned off, and everything was utterly still on this tropical island.

Edward and I were in bed, and our clothes were lying in a ragged heap on the floor…somewhere on the floor. He was pulling me to him as tightly as he could, and my mouth was on his. We had been like that for a while, and I had absolutely no problem with that.

He felt so warm…so soft…so _different_. I still couldn't get used to that. In a good way, though. His scent was as strong as ever, especially when my head was nestled against his bare chest like it was now.

"Bella?" His voice was soft and smooth as he leaned over to my ear.

"Hmm?"

"What are you planning to do _now_?"

I was perplexed. I frowned at him, his face perfectly clear in the darkness.

"What do you mean?"

He grabbed me and pulled me closer to him. "I know you are perfectly content to spend the rest of eternity like this – "

"I _am_," I interrupted.

His finger was over my lips as he hushed me. "But you know, you can't spend the rest of time like this. There's so much you need to see…so much you don't know yet…."

I sighed as this familiar topic came up. "I don't need to go to college, Edward. I'm perfectly fine the way I am right now."

"I know that, love. But you _are_ going to want to see, to know more, and that time will come soon, thanks to your incredible self-control. Instead of taking decades, you took days. To overcome your thirst and be close to humans. I think you can handle _that_."

I exhaled; how was I going to explain this to him? "Edward," I began. "I don't think that I'm following you. Let me get this straight: you want me to go back to school…either high school or college."

He smiled his perfect smile. "Yes," he agreed.

"Well…I don't think I really _need_ that."

"No," he murmured. "Of course not. But you _should_. You'll know more, you'll have _seen_ more…please don't tell me that you've never dreamt of going to Harvard before."

"I haven't!" I cringed a little as the lie came out anyways.

He shook his head in mock disbelief. "Do you really think that I would have bought that? Bella, you're a horrible liar."

"I know," I sighed in defeat. "But if I do go to college…well…I won't be able to be with you all the time, like now."

"Ah," he whispered, understanding. "But Bella, you haven't considered the fact that you won't have to sleep anymore, have you? You think of a limited…oh…sixteen hours, seventeen or eighteen, maybe. But now…you'll be awake twenty-four seven, and you'll be with me more than you think you will. There's always an option when it comes to class schedules."

"I know," I sighed again.

He was winning; he could feel that. I thought about my two choices: one, to be like a human and go to college – Dartmouth or University of Alaska or wherever – with the rest of my family, or two, to spend all the time with Edward.

His eyes decided for me. He held my face close to his, and when he opened his eyes, they were a beautiful honey gold that burned into mine. I lost my argument, as I always did, when he unleashed his sometimes-frightening power on me.

"Please?" he whispered.

I sighed; there was no way I could win this. "Fine," I conceded.

"Thank you, Bella." He pulled my face to his again, and our bodies twisted together slowly.


	8. Mainland

**AN: For those with weak stomachs/are very young/don't like extremely romantic scenes, it is suggested that you skip the first part.**

EPOV

Immortality made all the difference.

I remembered the first time we'd done this, and it was nearly painful for both of us. I had to control myself, so I wouldn't hurt her. My eyes were darker than they'd ever, been, and Bella had seen that.

But now…I didn't need to be so careful anymore. I was on top of her, and Bella was holding me close to her. I felt so utterly blissful.

I pulled out of her, feeling that explosion of pleasure in my mind. She was gasping and moaning my name. I pulled her mouth to mine.

"Bella," I moaned into her mouth.

My lips slowly roamed from her mouth down her jaw, her neck, her collarbone…to her chest.

Her breasts were beautiful and pale. I took them both in my hands, and I heard Bella moan my name. "Edward!" I glanced up, and her eyes were closed. I pressed my lips to one of her breasts and put it in my mouth. As my tongue attacked it, she screamed. "Oh, Edward! Don't stop!"

I wasn't going to, anytime soon. It was just so…wow. I switched to the other one soon enough, and I heard Bella moan again. Finally, she pushed me off. Since she was stronger than me (I wasn't really happy to admit that at first, but it was inevitably true), she was able to force me to comply, though I would have, anyways. Her lips drew a path down my chest and down to the area between my legs. She put her mouth on me and started to move her head up and down. I felt her sharp teeth graze a sensitive spot.

"Bella…." I moaned, my fingers in her hair. "Uh…Bella...keep going...."

The pleasure of being so intimate with Bella was just amazing. I could never get used to the passion in the atmosphere every night that we were alone. She wanted me, and I wanted her. I lay there, moaning her name, until her lips were back on mine.

"Edward, I love you." Her voice was a faint whisper.

Flipping her brown hair back, I put my lips at her ear. "As do I."

I flipped us over so that I was on top of her. Her legs spread apart, and I positioned myself between them, and went in again.

As the sun came up, my mouth stayed glued to Bella's. We'd passed much of the early hours by just kissing and caressing in bed, undressed. Finally, as sparkles danced on our skin again, I sighed and pulled her up.

"Time to get up, my beautiful."

She sighed. I pulled her into my arms and picked her up, and proceeded to carry her into the bathroom. Her mahogany hair fell onto my chest, and it felt so good there.

"Here, Bella, love." I handed her a simple, white sundress. She gave me a grateful look and slipped the dress on over her head, and

"What are we going to do today?" she asked. I breathed in the sweet scent that her breath carried. I yanked on my boxers, shorts, and gave her another kiss.

"Hunting," I replied against her lips.

"On the island?" I heard skepticism in her voice.

"Yes," I breathed. I brushed my fingertips under her eyes, and felt her shudder. "It's darkening, dear. How long have you gone without hunting?"

She sighed. "Two months, three weeks, and six days."

"Much too long," I murmured. "You've held out longer than we have. The rest of us hunt every two or three weeks. You have to get some blood in you _sometime_."

"Yes, I know, Edward." She sighed.

I was slightly surprised, though. "But your strength is still the same…hmm…usually, if you're thirsty – no, if you have a hint of darkness under your eyes – your strength will falter."

She shrugged. "I've always been the odd one. No surprise there."

With a roughness that surprised even me, I grabbed her and molded her body to mine. "That's not true," I murmured. "You're beautiful. You're different, but not odd, nor weird, nor strange. You are perfect."

Her arms wrapped around my neck. My lips parted just a little bit, and her tongue traced my lips. My own tongue forced her tongue back into her mouth, and I traced her lips. We finally broke apart, gasping.

"Give me a moment," she pleaded, collapsing on my chest. I was breathing heavily, too. We just embraced each other for a minute until our breathing became regular again. She smiled up at me timidly.

"Okay, so we're hunting?" she asked, just to clarify today's plan.

"Yes, we are. And I thought that we should go back tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me," she agreed.

"Okay."

I stared into her eyes – much darker than they were two months ago – and I could see her soul in them. She was perfect through and through.

Her hand ran down my chest to my waist. "You need to put a shirt on."

"Do I?"

"No." She grinned shyly and pecked me on the lips again.

"Let's go."

We flew out the door and up the hill to the forest.

"I wonder what kind of game there is?" Bella wondered.

"Probably small animals." Suddenly I thought of another idea. "Or would you like to swim to the mainland? There's bigger game there. I don't think it'll take us over an hour there and over an hour back."

She smiled. "Yes," she agreed.

We raced back down to the beach. "Ready, Bella?" I asked her.

"Yep. Ready!"

We waded out into the water and I held her hand. Within five minutes, Isle Esme was out of sight.

"We're going so fast," Bella breathed.

"Would you like me to carry you?" I asked, smirking.

She smirked back. "Right. As if! More like would you like _me_ to carry _you_."

"Are you serious?" I asked her.

She shrugged nonchalantly, but I could see a glimmer of excitement sparkle in her mind. "Sure, why not? You carry me all the time, it's my turn now."

Before I could react, she had pulled me onto her back and was speeding through the water toward the mainland.


	9. Hunting

BPOV

Exhilarating.

That was the only word I could use to describe swimming when you're a vampire.

And with Edward on my back, I was in total bliss. I held him securely, not letting him slip off. I felt his fingers trace my lips, and I kissed them softly.

His lips were at my ear. "I should never have doubted you, love." I giggled softly.

"Nope. Now I'm playing your part." We both laughed at that.

He kissed my hair, the back of my neck, the skin behind my ears – I had to slow down because that spot was a tender one, and made me shudder in pleasure every time his lips were there – and many other places. Finally, I felt him try to shrug off my back.

"Bella, stop, please. You're hogging whatever chance I have of carrying _you_."

I rolled my eyes, but complied.

"Are you tired?" he teased. We knew the answer; vampires never get tired.

He pulled me to him. As he looked down, I heard his breath catch.

"What?" I asked.

"Bella…your dress…."

I looked down. Since it was wet, it was see-through, and my chest was…uh….

He smiled sheepishly at me. "I should have thought before I gave you that dress; I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'm sure you like it," I teased, running my hands over his chest.

"Yes, of course I do."

He flung me over his back before I could talk. "We have to go somewhre out of the way, but we're probably still close to Rio. We just have to go down the coastline a few miles. And the sharks aren't attacking probably because our skin frightens them."

I glanced down at myself; the sparkles on my skin showed through my dress.

"Yes, you are beautiful," he whispered, twisting around to kiss me quickly. And then we were off.

In ten minutes, I could smell dense trees. I saw the a deserted coastline in front of us, and there were trees. I could also detect all kinds of animals, and my mouth watered.

I swung myself off Edward's back. I gripped his hand, and we made it to shore together.

"Ah, Bella." He looked at me with fierce love in his eyes. I was sure that my expression was similar.

I kissed him softly. "Time to hunt!"

He chuckled, a low, throaty chuckle. "Okay, let's go."

For a few hours, until the sun had reached it's summit, we fed on larger animals. Edward had consumed two mountain lions and a deer; surprisingly, the game was nearly the same as it was in Forks. I'd downed a bear and two deer. I insisted on watching Edward hunt. It was one of the most awe-inducing, perfect actions to watch. It was easy to see why he liked the mountain lion. He would crouch down, and stalk it perfectly, not a step out of place. And then his rippling muscles would tense, and he would be wrestling the lion to the ground. After a bite to the throat, he would slowly drink the blood and bury the body.

And then he came over to give me a hug. I melted in his arms.

He was still much more experienced at hunting than I was, no questions asked. My dress was torn in three places and there were small spatters of blood, whereas Edward's smooth, bare skin had no trace of blood. I couldn't even smell blood on him, anywhere, other than on his lips. If I wanted to learn, I'd better hunt more.

"Okay, love, ready to go back?" he asked, staring at the sun, which was slowly beginning to slip down.

I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand. "Yep, ready."

We walked back down to the coast, and Edward held a hand out to me. I grasped it tightly and we were back in the water. This time, I didn't protest. Edward put me on his back again, and I bent my head to his. We would talk, but this way, we arrived back at Isle Esme much faster.

Besides, I had no idea where to go, so it was good that Edward was so knowledgeable.

As we stepped back onto land, Edward pulled me into another embrace.

We walked up the hill to the cliff again, which was our favorite spot, though we'd never talked about that. Edward held my hand and parted the undergrowth for me – just like a gentleman, that's my Edward – and soon, we were there, sunning ourselves again.

"So," he whispered, tracing the lines on my hand. "Dartmouth? Or Alaska? Or high school?" That was one of the reasons why I loved Edward – he was so considerate. He gave me three choices, and I knew that he wouldn't complain, whichever I chose.

I considered the choices. If I had to go, I might as well go out in a flame of glory. "Dartmouth."

His eyes gleamed with possibilities and he kissed me again. "You'll see how it is," he assured me. "Your choice is a thousand times better than high school or University of Alaska – there won't be as many males vying for your attention at Dartmouth." Even though he was teasing, I recognized the tone underneath it.

I pulled his mouth to mine again. "You, Edward, are the only man who will ever have my attention." He was mollified by that, and we made out until the sun began to set.

"Charlie will be happy," he sighed.

"Yes, he will, I guess."

The sun's edge was meeting the water now. I stretched and stood up.

"Time to go back to bed," he joked. I was indeed eager for that.

"You know, Edward, I feel like I could just not get up, forever. Just stay in bed, with you."

He laughed, and hugged me closer. "I know how you feel, and I could, too. But there's so much more than that, and we have the rest of eternity to ourselves, remember?"

I was elated. "You're right."

Our hands locked together, we ran back to the house and crawled back into bed, though the sun was still shining.


	10. Home

EPOV

Today was the day that we bid Isle Esme farewell for another year. Neither of us were too sad, though; to us, a year was like a few months to humans. We'd be back in a blink. I sighed and clutched my wonderful wife to my side.

"All ready?" I asked her.

"Yep," she answered. She tried to be cheerful, but I could hear the tone of regret in her voice.

I lifted her chin so that she was looking at me. "Are you sad, precious love?"

She shook her head. "No…it's just…just that I'll miss the comforting privacy. I'll miss spending a few hours when it's just us."

Knowing exactly what she meant, but at the same time believing that she was just overreacting, I chuckled. "Our cottage isn't _that_ bad, is it?" I asked her. "Look at it this way – Jasper and Alice don't even have their own private place, only a room! Neither do Emmett and Rosalie, nor Carlisle and Esme. We're extremely lucky."

Taking my hand, she nodded. "We'll come back here next year, right?"

No longer able to rein in my need, I kissed her fiercely. "I wouldn't dream of doing so otherwise," I murmured against her lips. "This will be _our_ tradition."

She seemed satisfied, and sighed, taking one last glance of the house. "I sure am going to miss this place…but there's no place like home, right?"

I laughed. "Right," I agreed.

Just like a gentleman – I chuckled silently at the term – I carried all of our luggage with one hand and took Bella in my other arm. We all got into the small boat and set out back to Rio. It was slightly overcast today, so we shouldn't have any trouble going to our flight unnoticed. Bella leaned against my shoulder contentedly. We both looked at Isle Esme, disappearing into the distance.

"Guess what, Edward?" she whispered.

"What?"

She locked both her arms around my neck and forced my lips on hers. "I love you."

"As I love you," I replied, my mouth caressing hers in gentle, tender, passionate ways. "I will always love you."

Our lips stayed on each other's for the remainder of our boat trip, and my hands – hers as well – locked into each other's hair.

I quickly returned our boat, wanting to spend as little time without shelter as possible. When I was back at Bella's side, we had no problem flagging down a taxi. In the vehicle, we maintained a slightly distant physical relationship, only holding hands. The taxi driver, a young man in his early twenties, glowered at me with death in his eyes. _Stupid, young boy, I bet he's not even eighteen._ He was right…and wrong on that statement. _How could she be with him?_ He spotted my wedding ring. _Ugh! They're United States-ens, they must be here on their honeymoon! _And so his thoughts became more and more disturbing. I cringed.

When we got to the airport, I threw a wad of bills at the driver, and told him to keep the change. My nerves were at an end, and that made my English accent creep strongly into my normally decent Portuguese.

Of course, I forgot about my irritation as soon as soon as her lips were on mine, and my brain was incapable of any coherent thinking until I heard our flight come up.

"We'll continue this later," I promised.

Our return flight was like the coming one; only we had an excellent seat this time. We were in the back window seat. The passenger in front of us was sleeping most of the time, and the one to the right of us always had headphones plugged in to his laptop.

I engaged in much heavier make-out sessions than on the coming trip, too. She would always be in my arms, and I would always kiss her. Sometimes she'd allow me to receive a glimpse of her mind, and it would always be filled with her overflowing love for me. I always thought myself so lucky. She wanted me. That concept was still hard to wrap my mind around, and Alice had smacked me and called me an idiot a good many times for that.

Our flight was smooth, and before we knew it – our preoccupation helped – we were back home. The whole family was waiting there, plus Jacob. Nessie ran to us with her arms outstretched.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

Bella and I drowned in our daughter's embrace. "Oh, Nessie," Bella crooned. "I've missed you too, sweetie."

We were home.

**AN: This is the end! Sorry! But I have a sequel! It's called **_**Dartmouth: This is the Life**__**.**_** It's not up yet but will be soon **_**PLEASE**_** continue checking my profile for it, and it should be up in a day or two. The sequel will be all humor and fun and romance and it'll be as funny as I can make it. Thanks to all my reviewers! I love you all!**


End file.
